1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dryer for a recording medium, and in particular to a dryer for drying a recording medium of a wet photosensitive material and so forth.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an automatic processor of a printer processor and so forth used in a photographic laboratory or the like, a photosensitive material of a photographic paper and so forth is cut by a cuter in accordance with a print size, and print processing is executed for the cut-sheet-shaped photosensitive material (hereinafter, called as a photosensitive sheet). After the print processing, the photosensitive sheets are sorted into a single row or into plural rows by a sorter, and then, are carried to a developing equipment. In general, the developing equipment is provided with carry rollers for carrying the photosensitive sheet, and processing baths containing processing solutions for color development, bleaching/fixing, washing, stabilization and so forth. The photosensitive sheet is carried to the respective processing baths by the carry rollers. While the photosensitive sheet passes through the respective processing solutions in order, development processing is executed.
After the development processing, moisture exists on the photosensitive sheet so that the photosensitive sheet is in a wet state. Thus, the moisture of the photosensitive sheet is removed at a squeegee portion. After that, the photosensitive sheet is carried to a drying portion to perform a dry processing. The drying portion is provided with a carry rack for carrying the photosensitive sheet, a blower, a heater and so forth. The blower jets the air (hereinafter, called as dry air) heated by the heater and having adjusted humidity to dry the photosensitive sheet.
The drying portion comprises an endless mesh belt and a guide plate. The guide plate is disposed under the mesh belt and is formed with many jet holes for the dry air. A passage for carrying the photosensitive sheet is defined between the guide plate and the mesh belt. The photosensitive sheet is carried in a state that a photosensitive emulsion surface confronts the guide plate to prevent the emulsion surface from being damaged. By jetting the dry air from the guide plate, an opposite surface (hereinafter, called as a rear surface) to the photosensitive emulsion surface is pressed against the mesh belt and is supported thereby. The photosensitive sheet is carried in association with movement of the mesh belt. In virtue of this, the photosensitive emulsion surface is kept in a noncontact manner so that defects of abrasions, dirt and so forth are prevented from occurring thereon (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 8-76346, for example).
By the way, the photosensitive emulsion surface of the photosensitive sheet shrinks at the time of drying so that curling is caused to convexly curve the rear surface. This curl curves in a direction perpendicular to a carry direction so as to be a gutter-shaped curl. If a degree of curling becomes large, both edges of the photosensitive sheet are likely to come into contact with the guide plate, and the defects of abrasions, dirt and so forth are likely to be caused on the emulsion surface. Further, if a corner of the photosensitive sheet is caught by a nozzle, it becomes impossible to perform aligned carry, since a carry position is disarrayed. In addition, jamming is sometimes caused. In consideration of this, the guide plate is provided with a skewer roller to prevent the photosensitive sheet from coming into contact with the guide plate, such as described in the above-noted Publication No. 8-76346. By doing so, the abrasions and the jamming are adapted to be prevented from occurring. However, in the Publication No. 8-76346, since a lot of the skewer rollers are arranged, a number of the jet holes is limited. Thus, there arises a problem in that the blower is enlarged for the purpose of keeping necessary levitation force of the photosensitive sheet.